Mobile assisted language learning: From content delivery to supported collaboration and interaction
mobile assisted language '' ''learning: From content delivery to supported '' ''collaboration and interaction '' '' '' '''Abstract ' Mobile learning is undergoing rapid evolution. While early generations of mobile learning tended to propose activities that were carefully crafted by educators and technologists, learners are increasingly motivated by their personal learning needs, including those arising from greater mobility and frequent travel. At the same time, it is often argued that mobile devices are particularly suited to supporting social contacts and collaborative learning - claims that have obvious relevance for language learning. A review of publications reporting mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) was undertaken to discover how far mobile devices are being used to support social contact and collaborative learning. In particular, we were interested in speaking and listening practice and in the possibilities for both synchronous and asynchronous interaction in the context of online and distance learning. We reflect on how mobile language learning has developed to date and suggest directions for the future 'Introduction ' Several years ago, it was already being claimed that, at least in the UK, mobile technologies were “a familiar part of the lives of most teachers and students” (Facer, 2004:1). Yet their integration into learning and teaching has been more gradual, as educators have sought to understand how best to use these tools to support various kinds of learning. A review of mobile learning projects funded by the European Union since 2001 (Pęcherzewska & Knot, 2007) confirms that mobile phones are the most frequently used device in these projects, followed by personal digital assistants (PDAs) and other handhelds, with personal listening devices (e.g. iPods) receiving a little less attention. Whilst a number of projects concentrate on creating learning materials for mobile devices, several others are focusing on communication and interaction. Our aim in this paper is to review the current state of mobile learning with specific reference to language learning, and, in particular, to examine the extent to which mobile devices can support listening and speaking activities in situations where learners may wish to collaborate. In doing so, we pay special attention to the needs of online and distance learners for whom the challenges of speaking and listening practice can be particularly acute. Until comparatively recently, offering interactive1 listening and speaking activities in the context of online and/or distance learning2 has been problematic because of issues of bandwidth and sound quality. Such activities, therefore, have tended to be excluded from these contexts. Distance learning institutions such as the Open University, UK3 have addressed this issue by distributing audio-cassettes or audio CDs of pre-recorded listening materials and asking learners to send their own oral work to tutors recorded on audio-cassette. Tutors then marked and returned work, using both paper and audiocassette to provide feedback. This, however, does not allow learners to interact with each other. Since language learning is, essentially, a social activity (see Norbrook & Scott, 2003, Warschauer, 1999), lack of such interaction may be seen as disadvantaging learners participating in courses distributing learning materials via the regular mail service. Increasingly, however, interaction between learners and between learner and tutor can be provided via Voice over Internet (VoiP) applications. Such applications may be proprietary, (e.g., the Open University’s audiographics conferencing system, Lyceum, as described in Wikipedia) or available to all (e.g., Skype, as described by Rao (2007), for instance). Having defined mobile learning (m-learning) in the next section, this paper then offers an overview of Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL) research, describing and critiquing the approaches taken. We ask whether MALL can currently successfully support collaborative listening and speaking activities. Based on the findings of earlier studies, we suggest areas for further research. 'Mobile Assisted Language Learning: an overview of the field ' As access to wireless networks expands and ownership of devices that can communicate with such networks increases, the use of mobile devices to support language learning becomes ever more common. MALL differs from computer-assisted language learning in its use of personal, portable devices that enable new ways of learning, emphasizing continuity or spontaneity of access and interaction across different contexts of use. As has been pointed out by Laurillard (2007: 165), “a typical m-learning activity could build in more opportunities for digitally-facilitated site-specific activities, and for ownership and control over what the learners do”. In general, MALL would be expected to use technologies such as mobile phones, MP3/MP4 players, PDAs and palmtop computers. An investigation of the MALL literature reveals that it is, indeed, these devices that research in the field has tended to employ. For the purposes of the current paper, a survey was carried out of MALL-related literature published in major, peerreviewed, CALL-related journals (such articles were found in ReCALL, Computer '' ''Assisted Language Learning, JALT-CALL ''and ''System). The Academic Search Complete database and Google Scholar were also queried to search for literature in this field, whether this was published in the area of CALL or in more general e-learning journals. Furthermore, several relevant papers presented at mobile learning conferences are included. While the overview presented here is not – and, because of the rapid rate of publication of MALL-related articles cannot be – comprehensive, it identifies current trends in the use of mobile devices to support language learning. 'MALL: anytime, anywhere? ' Many of the studies described in the above section that addresses content-related MALL activities, appear to subscribe to a model whereby materials are delivered to learners via SMS or a website (see Table 1 in Appendix A for a summary of the research reported here). Very few activities support learner collaboration or communication. While Dias (2002a, 2002b) promotes learner-learner interaction, of the work using more expensive mobile devices, only Southampton (JISC 2005) used MALL to encourage collaboration and co-construction of knowledge; learners had to find information and share it with their peers in order to build up an overall understanding of a real-world problem, namely, the layout of the campus and the location and purpose of various buildings. Although Lan et al.’s study (2007) encouraged learners to support each other in developing their skills in reading aloud and listening to each other doing so, it does not seem to facilitate synchronous interaction of any other sort, either through text or voice. The chat sessions reported by Samuels (2003) allow learners to communicate with each other, but in text rather than voice. The chats themselves do not appear to have been structured in any way, so there is no evidence they were planned to help with knowledge co-construction. Mobility and portability too often seem not to be fully exploited in the design of MALL activities, even though it is precisely these affordances that justify using mobile devices at all. Many of the studies ignored the ‘anytime, anywhere’ affordances supposedly offered by mobile devices; for example, SMS messages were sent to learners at set times, on set days (Levy & Kennedy, 2005) rather than learners being able to obtain this information as and when they wanted it. Turning to low-tech, low-cost mobile devices, there is, as yet, too little evidence to make claims concerning their efficacy for MALL. The studies reported adopt models where learners use mobile devices in conjunction with web-based tools to reach outcomes that can be viewed by an audience beyond their immediate peer group. In both cases, the mobile device is integral, adding an extra dimension to the learning experience by allowing learners to identify, edit, and share their own materials in a way analogous to Shneiderman’s ‘relate’ (identify), ‘create’ (edit), ‘donate’ (share) philosophy (1998). Studies that deal with design issues and learner needs seem to take a somewhat different approach. We have seen that they tend to address issues of ‘anytime, anywhere’ learning as part of the design process. While the activities that are reported rarely allow for collaborative learner interaction, there is a movement towards giving the learner the power to choose what, when and where to learn that is not always apparent in the more formal contexts of the content-related MALL studies. Some researchers into the use of m-learning for language learning purposes have moved towards defining ways in which mobile devices can support language learning communities of practice when their members are separated by distance. Petersen & Divitini (2004) bring together mobility of person with the ways in which mobile devices can be used to empower language learners. For instance, they suggest, a language learner visiting a target culture (say, a ‘year abroad’) could use mobile technologies to capture and share their experiences in that culture with a community of practice (e.g. language learners) at home. In other words, they create their own content either to satisfy their co-learners’ request for specific information or to share material that seems to them in some way useful or relevant to the needs of the community of learners. This is a very different approach from that taken by Dias (2002a, 2002b) and City College Southampton (JISC 2004); those studies asked users to create content on a media board in response to an activity defined by the teacher; Petersen and Divitini suggest that learners define what material they need and create content based upon that, sharing that content via mobile devices. It is noteworthy, however, that although Petersen and Divitini’s emphasis is still on informal or “unofficial” as they term it (2004:172) materials, the types of activity in which they expect learners to take part – they suggest learners might share audio and video clips as well as urls - do not include oral interaction.